COLUMBUS, Ohio - This week, Ohio State coach Urban Meyer gets the total focus he desires.
The BCS, impending NFL decisions and even next week's Big Ten Championship Game can wait. This week, No. 3 Ohio State goes for 12-0 against Michigan.
The Michigan game means so much to Ohio State as a program, even when the Buckeyes aren't undefeated and chasing a chance to play for the national championship, that Meyer actually said the word "Michigan" during his Monday press conference. He usually refers to Michigan only as "That Team Up North."
"I learned to dislike Michigan at a very young age," the Ashtabula, Ohio native said. "You never really appreciate it until you're behind the walls here and find out how serious it is."
When told he'd slipped and said the M-word, he apologized.
There will be no apologies if Ohio State plays the way it's been playing against the dregs of the Big Ten and puts blows out a reeling Michigan team, but Meyer won't let those thoughts creep inside the walls this week, either. While Ohio State has averaged 55 points a game over its last four games, Michigan has scored a total of 49 points in its last 16 quarters of regulation football. Its only victory in that stretch was a 27-19 overtime win at Northwestern, which hasn't won a game since September.
Still, in this part of the country it's called The Game because it usually carries a bunch of significance and can make the season of the winning team. Michigan needs that boost badly, and Ohio State is looking to extend its win streak to 24.
"It's not just another game," Meyer said. "It's not. Our players know that. Does that mean we put less value on Indiana or less value on the following week coming up? I didn't say that. But there is an extra pep in the step. We officially started working on the game a day earlier than we normally do, and they get it. Our players get it.
"That is one thing about it...a new coach doesn't come in here and try to stimulate that rivalry. That rivalry's been stimulated a long time ago, and we need to carry it on and make it stronger."
Meyer said at various times last week that he neither would nor wanted to discuss his team's place in the BCS standings behind fellow unbeatens Alabama and Florida State. He's said since last month that he touches on "the state of the union" and the BCS standings with his players each Sunday but has asked for their focus only on the task at hand.
The results against the Purdues, Illinois and Indianas of the world speak for themselves. With Michigan on tap, he's expecting all involved to again be locked in. Ohio State has clinched its spot in the Big Ten Championship Game and knows it will play Michigan State in Indianapolis on Dec. 7, so a tough stretch -- much more difficult than what Ohio State has faced lately, even with Michigan struggling -- has arrived.
"This will be our first time (dealing with that here) but we've done it three times (previously at Florida) I believe," Meyer said. "I don't want to say it's awful, but you talk about blowing out your staff and our players and then throwing in finals week and those type of things that our players are dealing with right now. So our focus is on this one, but we know what's coming. You have to be so disciplined in the way you practice, and I'm going to warn our coaches and warning the players myself about sleep, taking care of yourself, because these next two weeks are going to be brutal."
They figure to be memorable, too. Where they lead Ohio State remains to be seen, and Meyer isn't going to talk about it now.
He's going to worry about keeping every player focused solely on beating Michigan.
#NORESPECT pic.twitter.com/HkF0ZdexOf
— Christian Bryant™ (@2CBryant) November 25, 2013
